• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

"I Need a New PC!" 2021. Sold Out Edition.

So asking for a little insight from people here way smarter then myself because watching videos just gives me different answers and who likes what.

I ordered that 5950x prebuilt and have 3 other PCs a 10850k, 11900k and a 5800x.

I am wanting to pick one of these cpus coupled with either a 3080 or 3090 just for gaming nothing else which cpu would be the best out of this group?

From what I have seen Intel seems to do well for just gaming but hoping someone here had real world tests with mainly the 5950x

I will end up keeping 2 of these systems and donating the other 2 to a local YMCA PC lab
 

Yerd

Member
So asking for a little insight from people here way smarter then myself because watching videos just gives me different answers and who likes what.

I ordered that 5950x prebuilt and have 3 other PCs a 10850k, 11900k and a 5800x.

I am wanting to pick one of these cpus coupled with either a 3080 or 3090 just for gaming nothing else which cpu would be the best out of this group?

From what I have seen Intel seems to do well for just gaming but hoping someone here had real world tests with mainly the 5950x

I will end up keeping 2 of these systems and donating the other 2 to a local YMCA PC lab
I can't give any experience advice on any of the CPUs. But, if you're not selling any of it, why not keep the best of the best? 5950 and 3090. MSRP Price for performance, neither of them are worth the money. But, you have them regardless. Keep the best.

I don't know what happens at a YMCA pc lab, but they are getting some serious shit from you.
 

Phase

Member
I can't give any experience advice on any of the CPUs. But, if you're not selling any of it, why not keep the best of the best? 5950 and 3090. MSRP Price for performance, neither of them are worth the money. But, you have them regardless. Keep the best.

I don't know what happens at a YMCA pc lab, but they are getting some serious shit from you.
He's gonna have to stop by once a month to clean the system, that is if it hasn't been stripped by then lol. That thing better have a locked cage around it.
 
Last edited:
I can't give any experience advice on any of the CPUs. But, if you're not selling any of it, why not keep the best of the best? 5950 and 3090. MSRP Price for performance, neither of them are worth the money. But, you have them regardless. Keep the best.

I don't know what happens at a YMCA pc lab, but they are getting some serious shit from you.

Thanks wasnt sure on the 5950x vs 11900k just for gaming though I know Gamers Nexus called the 11900k a waste of sand :)

The local high school actually has started an esports team and they "train" at the local Y that has some okay PCs I think they bought like 5 7700ks with 1060s in them, I think.

So my wife (she went to that high school) want to replace at least some of those PCs and maybe all of them eventually
 

Yerd

Member
Thanks wasnt sure on the 5950x vs 11900k just for gaming though I know Gamers Nexus called the 11900k a waste of sand :)

The local high school actually has started an esports team and they "train" at the local Y that has some okay PCs I think they bought like 5 7700ks with 1060s in them, I think.

So my wife (she went to that high school) want to replace at least some of those PCs and maybe all of them eventually
WTF, why couldn't athletics be like this when I went to highschool. No, we had to play shit like badminton in the gym. I actually liked that one...
 
WTF, why couldn't athletics be like this when I went to highschool. No, we had to play shit like badminton in the gym. I actually liked that one...

Going to date myself here but back in the early 80s we played kickball and during one week all we did was learn how to keep score in bowling, yes bowling.

Its pretty cool these high schools are starting this stuff up as this was the first year it was offered and it only has 2 games right now in Rocket League and Fortnite but they plan to expand to 20 some games next year.
 

Yerd

Member
I graduated HS in 90's so my era would have been Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat. I loved the arcades in those days. There weren't any star players where I lived and I could be counted among the best in the few arcades around. There was one left handed guy that always amazed me at how he played arms crossed. Back in those days tournaments were just starting, I think, and were in California. I lived east coast.
 

Yerd

Member
Going to date myself here but back in the early 80s we played kickball and during one week all we did was learn how to keep score in bowling, yes bowling.

Its pretty cool these high schools are starting this stuff up as this was the first year it was offered and it only has 2 games right now in Rocket League and Fortnite but they plan to expand to 20 some games next year.
Ok that is crazy. So will they compete with other local schools only or just be online stuff? I can't even wrap my mind around a high school doing this.
 
Ok that is crazy. So will they compete with other local schools only or just be online stuff? I can't even wrap my mind around a high school doing this.

They actually have competed against a couple of schools in Rocket League and it seems more to try and help kids get in College for esports.

Sadly having taken a tour of the new Y that was built I watched a couple of the kids in this "class" and its obvious they will never become pros :)

But its all in its infancy and her school is one of things we try to help with some charitable work.

That is her passion and raising money for humane societies, she loves the dogs
 

Buggy Loop

Member
Anyone gaming on a Keychron mech keyboard wirelessly?

Like, i'm not into any competitive gaming, but what i hate is signal losses or shit like huge lag spikes. Anyone here has feedback if they're good?
 
I was able to get my hands on 3 of the Cyberpower 11900k 3080 systems through Best Buy and get them donated to the local PC lab at the Y and all I can say is dont buy these things unless you plan on upgrading the cooling.

They came with a single 120mm rad fan trying to cool the CPU and the MSI Ventus 3080 vents its heat inside the case and the CPU cooler was set to exhaust so it was using warm air anyhow.

After playing Flight Sim for 15 minutes the CPU hits thermal throttling and eventually just locks up.

But the PC lab was thrilled to get them and the teacher who is a great at tech anyhow going to use it as a teaching tool to upgrade the rads to 360
 

Brofist

Member
I was able to get my hands on 3 of the Cyberpower 11900k 3080 systems through Best Buy and get them donated to the local PC lab at the Y and all I can say is dont buy these things unless you plan on upgrading the cooling.

They came with a single 120mm rad fan trying to cool the CPU and the MSI Ventus 3080 vents its heat inside the case and the CPU cooler was set to exhaust so it was using warm air anyhow.

After playing Flight Sim for 15 minutes the CPU hits thermal throttling and eventually just locks up.

But the PC lab was thrilled to get them and the teacher who is a great at tech anyhow going to use it as a teaching tool to upgrade the rads to 360
I'd just gut it, and put it in a real case with decent cooling straight away if I ever bought one.
 
I'd just gut it, and put it in a real case with decent cooling straight away if I ever bought one.

Yeah I have built several pcs over the years just tired of messing with it honestly.

Plus was told it would kill any type of warranty unless I put everything back the way it was before trying to get warranty work and the pc lab doesnt care about any kind of warranty.

But yeah if put in a proper case with better cooling they would be a killer system especially at the $2500 price point which they keep popping in and out of stock
 

Excess

Member
So asking for a little insight from people here way smarter then myself because watching videos just gives me different answers and who likes what.

I ordered that 5950x prebuilt and have 3 other PCs a 10850k, 11900k and a 5800x.

I am wanting to pick one of these cpus coupled with either a 3080 or 3090 just for gaming nothing else which cpu would be the best out of this group?

From what I have seen Intel seems to do well for just gaming but hoping someone here had real world tests with mainly the 5950x

I will end up keeping 2 of these systems and donating the other 2 to a local YMCA PC lab
If it's just for gaming, the next question you need to ask yourself is what resolution you commonly play at, or what kind of games you play.

If you strictly play at 4K, you really can't go wrong with any of those processors because your GPU will never perform well enough to bottleneck the CPU. This is exactly why I settled on a 5600X with my 3080. The extra cores and performance are negligible at high quality 4K gaming. You can see this for yourself if you run a new game at 4K with max settings; the GPU will be near 100% usage, while the CPU is barely maxes out. However, MMORPG's can benefit from more cores, but that's an edge case scenario.

Yeah, so unless you're also doing productivity applications, such as rendering videos, streaming, etc., I think the extra headroom is a waste. I think the only reason Gamers Nexus said that about the 11900K is because the 10th gen version is objectively better and therefore there was no point in selling it.
 

reinking

Gold Member



Got 'em.

tenor.gif
 

GreatnessRD

Member
Best Buy on 3080 "Unavailable nearby"

Not that I wanted the 3080, but I would've copped it if Best Buy didn't do this regional garbage. Same with AMD direct when they release on each coast on some warped timing. Even though the 3060 Ti isn't the GPU I wanted, I'm glad I got it at launch because this "click faster" and simulation of luck just ain't it for me, lol. I feel bad for those who gotta participate in this goofiness. Probably gonna last through Q1 of '22.
 

Max_Po

Banned
I got an Alienware r10 about 2 months ago...

RTX 3080 w/ 5900x and 32 gig Ram

I am unable to go 4k60 max with Ray Tracing...

I can do 2560 x 1400 locked 60 since my TV has a max refresh of 60 @ 4k

Resident Evil 8
 
Last edited:

Buggy Loop

Member
I think that after getting a 3060 yesterday, and finding it fine for most games I’ll play in the next 6+ months, I think that if I get lucky to snag a 3080 or 3080 TI, then super, otherwise, I think it would hold fine until next series (Ada?) comes around.
 

Excess

Member
I got an Alienware r10 about 2 months ago...

RTX 3080 w/ 5900x and 32 gig Ram

I am unable to go 4k60 max with Ray Tracing...

I can do 2560 x 1400 locked 60 since my TV has a max refresh of 60 @ 4k
This sounds about right. It also depends on how well it's implemented. For RE8, it was quite minimal and was playable at 4K60. With Cyberpunk, where it was more heavily implemented, it required DLSS and a few compromises.
 

Max_Po

Banned
This sounds about right. It also depends on how well it's implemented. For RE8, it was quite minimal and was playable at 4K60. With Cyberpunk, where it was more heavily implemented, it required DLSS and a few compromises.

Yep ..I was pissed could not do full raw max 4k60 with Ray Tracing in CyberPunk2077....this is my first gaming pc....
 

baphomet

Member
I've got a CIB AMD Ryzen 3900X with cooler I'm looking to sell. Used for standard gaming for about 6 months. Cooler has never left the box. $350 shipped if anyone is interested.
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
Best Buy on 3080 "Unavailable nearby"

Not that I wanted the 3080, but I would've copped it if Best Buy didn't do this regional garbage. Same with AMD direct when they release on each coast on some warped timing. Even though the 3060 Ti isn't the GPU I wanted, I'm glad I got it at launch because this "click faster" and simulation of luck just ain't it for me, lol. I feel bad for those who gotta participate in this goofiness. Probably gonna last through Q1 of '22.
I wish they would either let you ship it to yourself or otherwise just put them in the store for sale and don't even list them on the website, like Microcenter does.

Edit: I just found out that my local BestBuy has closed down :(
 
Last edited:

Excess

Member
Yep ..I was pissed could not do full raw max 4k60 with Ray Tracing in CyberPunk2077....this is my first gaming pc....
Here, try my settings. I used some of Digital Foundry's recommendations and some tweaking of my own. I was able to play at a solid 4K60 like this:

QRDupUT.png

kKl63ws.png

et1mVkj.png

For RE8, I would keep texture quality really low. Also, stay away from the interlaced feature. (Console is actually 4K checkerboarding btw)

 

Buggy Loop

Member
Playing Control for the first time, with an 3060.

What's SSR's role here? When having RT reflections, should SSR even be enabled? Seems like it adds a bunch of noise. But there seems to be a contradiction in the settings where if you apply RT, you cannot adjust SSR quality, but disabling RT, then SSR off, then RT on again, and it's a totally different looking scene?

What's the right settings here?
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
upgraded from a ryzen 2600 to a 5800x

feel that fps boost
Unfortunately I didn't run a lot of benchmarks but I went from a 9900k to a 5900x good to be on the upper end of everything including memory and graphics (64gb 3600 Vengeance DDR4/GIGABYTE Vision 3090).
 

Phase

Member
Playing Control for the first time, with an 3060.

What's SSR's role here? When having RT reflections, should SSR even be enabled? Seems like it adds a bunch of noise. But there seems to be a contradiction in the settings where if you apply RT, you cannot adjust SSR quality, but disabling RT, then SSR off, then RT on again, and it's a totally different looking scene?

What's the right settings here?
Which one looks better? (kind of joking, but not really)
 

Buggy Loop

Member
Which one looks better? (kind of joking, but not really)

With SSR somehow on, but with RT enabled. It’s just strange to see the noise, thought it was the denoiser, but it’s présent without RT so it’s a form of SSR on top of it? Was mainly evident in the pathway to the hotline. Just saw Digital foundry’s video on Control and he mentioned that same place.

Seems to be only in darker places.

otherwise, amazing visuals
 

Phase

Member
With SSR somehow on, but with RT enabled. It’s just strange to see the noise, thought it was the denoiser, but it’s présent without RT so it’s a form of SSR on top of it? Was mainly evident in the pathway to the hotline. Just saw Digital foundry’s video on Control and he mentioned that same place.

Seems to be only in darker places.

otherwise, amazing visuals
Interesting. I don't have a new gpu yet so I haven't been able to try out RT but I'll definitely fool with it once I can.
 

GreatnessRD

Member
I wish they would either let you ship it to yourself or otherwise just put them in the store for sale and don't even list them on the website, like Microcenter does.

Edit: I just found out that my local BestBuy has closed down :(
It's really weird and doesn't make any sense. And sucks to hear your Best Buy closed.

I'm trying to talk myself into buying the 5800x at $399 from Microcenter. I really don't need it with my 3700x, but that price is really good at $399.
 

Casanova

Member
This is honestly the worst year for PC gaming I've ever seen. I just took my two nephews into my home (family circumstances...) and I'm now their primary caretaker. I started building them a gaming PC in December when they moved in and I have all the components I need for their first gaming PC except for a damn GPU. I've tried everything to get one. I know that we're in a pandemic and I know that the bitcoin phenomenon is full-force right now, but it's just awful. They were so freaking excited when I started buying components and told them I would teach them how to build and manage their own PC's. It's just been so anti-climactic. Any more hints from you all regarding this? Any leads at all? Will I be able to secure a decent GPU for them at some point this year??
 

V1LÆM

Gold Member
Will I be able to secure a decent GPU for them at some point this year??
lol nope. honestly the best bet is to wait for next generation of cards but of course by that time whatever parts you've already bought will be outdated with DDR5 + PCIE 5.0 around the corner which means new CPU, new motherboard, new ram, new SSD, new GPU, etc. outside the pandemic + chip shortage it is still a bad time to build a new PC with new tech coming soon. the chip shortage is gonna wreck 2022 as well it seems and a lot of businesses won't be so quick to return to working in offices. DDR5 + PCIE 5.0 is likely gonna come out in 2022 with new graphics cards either late 2022 or early 2023. the best time to build a PC won't be for a long while yet probably late 2023 is my guess.

Playing Control for the first time, with an 3060.

What's SSR's role here? When having RT reflections, should SSR even be enabled? Seems like it adds a bunch of noise. But there seems to be a contradiction in the settings where if you apply RT, you cannot adjust SSR quality, but disabling RT, then SSR off, then RT on again, and it's a totally different looking scene?

What's the right settings here?
it makes no sense to have Screen Space Reflections enabled with RT Reflections. disable SSR and enable RT Reflections. it's the same with Cyberpunk. if you enable RTX you turn off SSR + Ambient Occlusion because RTX deals with them both. you're just wasting performance having rastorization SSR/AO and raytracing SSR/AO enabled at the same time.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
This is honestly the worst year for PC gaming I've ever seen. I just took my two nephews into my home (family circumstances...) and I'm now their primary caretaker. I started building them a gaming PC in December when they moved in and I have all the components I need for their first gaming PC except for a damn GPU. I've tried everything to get one. I know that we're in a pandemic and I know that the bitcoin phenomenon is full-force right now, but it's just awful. They were so freaking excited when I started buying components and told them I would teach them how to build and manage their own PC's. It's just been so anti-climactic. Any more hints from you all regarding this? Any leads at all? Will I be able to secure a decent GPU for them at some point this year??

I mean thats a rough situation you have there.

I would lower your expectations and look for a 980, 980ti, 1060/1070 etc. Check ebay so you can get your moeny back if its bunk.

Honestly my friend plays GTA5 on a 980 at 1440p 60fps it looks great. Having the newest GPU is a bit of hype and a bit "enthusiast" for most people (yes i own a 3080 lol). I think getting games up and running even with an older GPU your nephews will be stoked and older cards can still run games great.
 

Excess

Member
This is honestly the worst year for PC gaming I've ever seen. I just took my two nephews into my home (family circumstances...) and I'm now their primary caretaker. I started building them a gaming PC in December when they moved in and I have all the components I need for their first gaming PC except for a damn GPU. I've tried everything to get one. I know that we're in a pandemic and I know that the bitcoin phenomenon is full-force right now, but it's just awful. They were so freaking excited when I started buying components and told them I would teach them how to build and manage their own PC's. It's just been so anti-climactic. Any more hints from you all regarding this? Any leads at all? Will I be able to secure a decent GPU for them at some point this year??
If you have the time and you're willing to be incredibly patient, crowd sourcing information is your best bet. I used the following Discords:

Stock Drops - The most active one with Discord alerts for all retailers. The general discussions are good to follow as well because people share information about when things tend to drop.

Unofficial MicroCenter - This will have a room for each location where people will share information.

NowInStock - An older but still reliable bot that alerts you when stock is available.

My success: I was first able to get a Gigabyte 3080 using the MicroCenter one. Someone said they had some in stock back in November. I rushed over and scored one. I even screamed "Yes!" out loud at the store, it was pretty funny. But that is more for sharing information if you have a local MC by you. Then, which seems to be the most reliable in terms of checkout, was getting a 3080 FE from BestBuy through Stock Drops. Once I got that (the card I really wanted), I sold the Gigabyte.

So yes, I was able to get two 3080's using Discord.
 

evanft

Member
So I have a 3080 FE that I got in November, but if I could get a 3090 I could likely sell my 3080 for what I would pay for a 3090.

Are 3090s usually stocked as part of the BB drops with regularity?
 
So I have a 3080 FE that I got in November, but if I could get a 3090 I could likely sell my 3080 for what I would pay for a 3090.

Are 3090s usually stocked as part of the BB drops with regularity?

As someone who has both and have tested several games using both on a couple of different CPUs I can honestly say if its for gaming only the increase in FPS just isnt worth the hassle.

Now if you are working with other programs that can really use the extra RAM then maybe.

Plus right now I would kind of wait for the incoming 3080ti
 

Yerd

Member
I own a 3090FE bought from Bestbuy. The 3090 isn't worth the pay increase over other cards, but in my experience they stay in stock longer because of the high price. I had two different 3090 cards in my cart while everyone was scrambling to buy the lower cards. First card I bought, my credit card company came back with a fraud alert that I had to confirm, and I went back and finally got the FE version. After I had the transaction complete, they were still in stock for a short while.

Now I'm still struggling to get a PS5. There was stock just recently and I get this nonsense of no stock left at my selected store.

I assume BB is just giving each store a certain amount and when that goes out of stock that's it.
 

GreatnessRD

Member
This is honestly the worst year for PC gaming I've ever seen. I just took my two nephews into my home (family circumstances...) and I'm now their primary caretaker. I started building them a gaming PC in December when they moved in and I have all the components I need for their first gaming PC except for a damn GPU. I've tried everything to get one. I know that we're in a pandemic and I know that the bitcoin phenomenon is full-force right now, but it's just awful. They were so freaking excited when I started buying components and told them I would teach them how to build and manage their own PC's. It's just been so anti-climactic. Any more hints from you all regarding this? Any leads at all? Will I be able to secure a decent GPU for them at some point this year??
I doubt the GPU situation will get better anytime soon. As I said in a previous post, I don't think it will be better until after Q1 of '22. But for your current situation, I'd tell you try Hardware swap on reddit. For the most part, it appears to be a ton of decent people there. Just let them know what you're looking for and in what price range you're willing to pay.
 
Top Bottom